There are many wings of the pro-life movement, each with its own set of tactics regarding the best way to fight abortion in America. (The various wings or 'streams' of the contemporary pro-life movement are described in Ziad Munson's excellent book, The Making of Pro-Life Activists.)
One wing focuses on conducting activities around existing abortion clinics, to persuade pregnant women to not go through with intended abortions, and to change the hearts and minds of clinic workers. The best current example of the clinic-based pro-life movement is 40 Days for Life, whose signature event is to hold annual, coordinated 40-day prayer vigils outside of abortion clinics across the country. When not holding their vigils, they organize supporters to have a regular presence around clinics, where they pray and attempt to engage clinic patients and employees.
The kind of activities conducted by 40 Days for Life are a much gentler version of the confrontational tactics used by Operation Rescue-types in the 1980s and 1990s. The most highly-publicized 40 Days for Life success story is Abby Johnson, the Planned Parenthood clinic director who became a pro-life activist. Ms. Johnson credits a lot of her 'conversion' to 40 Days for Life-affiliated activists who had a constant presence outside her clinic.
The primary metric that 40 Days for Life uses to measure the success of their efforts is the number of 'babies' that they estimate that they have 'saved' from abortion-- measured by counting the number of women who were going to have an abortion but changed their minds after encountering 40 Days for Life volunteers outside of a clinic. They also have an Abby Johnson metric: The number of clinic employees who have quit their jobs, presumably due to a 40 Days-influenced change of heart.
If you want to get some insight into the thinking of this wing of the pro-life movement, you can sign up to watch a 40 Days for Life webcast that will be shown on January 21. The webcast a promotion event for a book they are publishing that talks about their efforts and its effects. Obviously, the webcast and all related materials are very pro-40 Days for Life, but there is a lot to learn here about the pro-life movement.
Links:
40 Days for Life webcast homepage
Article (well press release-- the author, Shawn Carney, is a campaign director for 40 Days for Life) in LifeNews.com (January 18, 2013): Book Tells How 40 Days for Life Saved 6,749 Babies From Abortion
One wing focuses on conducting activities around existing abortion clinics, to persuade pregnant women to not go through with intended abortions, and to change the hearts and minds of clinic workers. The best current example of the clinic-based pro-life movement is 40 Days for Life, whose signature event is to hold annual, coordinated 40-day prayer vigils outside of abortion clinics across the country. When not holding their vigils, they organize supporters to have a regular presence around clinics, where they pray and attempt to engage clinic patients and employees.
The kind of activities conducted by 40 Days for Life are a much gentler version of the confrontational tactics used by Operation Rescue-types in the 1980s and 1990s. The most highly-publicized 40 Days for Life success story is Abby Johnson, the Planned Parenthood clinic director who became a pro-life activist. Ms. Johnson credits a lot of her 'conversion' to 40 Days for Life-affiliated activists who had a constant presence outside her clinic.
The primary metric that 40 Days for Life uses to measure the success of their efforts is the number of 'babies' that they estimate that they have 'saved' from abortion-- measured by counting the number of women who were going to have an abortion but changed their minds after encountering 40 Days for Life volunteers outside of a clinic. They also have an Abby Johnson metric: The number of clinic employees who have quit their jobs, presumably due to a 40 Days-influenced change of heart.
If you want to get some insight into the thinking of this wing of the pro-life movement, you can sign up to watch a 40 Days for Life webcast that will be shown on January 21. The webcast a promotion event for a book they are publishing that talks about their efforts and its effects. Obviously, the webcast and all related materials are very pro-40 Days for Life, but there is a lot to learn here about the pro-life movement.
Links:
40 Days for Life webcast homepage
Article (well press release-- the author, Shawn Carney, is a campaign director for 40 Days for Life) in LifeNews.com (January 18, 2013): Book Tells How 40 Days for Life Saved 6,749 Babies From Abortion
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